Careful parents ensure that medications are stored out of reach of children, for example, high in a cabinet or locked in a suitable location to prevent access. Each year, however, children gain unauthorized access to medications, sometimes resulting in tragedy. Medications are sold in many forms, such as tablets, pills, liquids, gels, and powders. Existing child-proof mechanisms include specially-designed twist-off bottle caps for liquid medications and pill bottle tops requiring a combination of squeezing and turning to remove the cap, among others.
Federal anti-tamper laws were imposed after an incident in 1982 where potassium cyanide-laced analgesics led to the death of seven people in Chicago. Since then, medication packages typically include some method for alerting the consumer if the package has been tampered. Examples of tamper-evident packaging includes so-called ‘blister packs,’ induction seals, and cap-rings which can indicate to the consumer that the package may have been compromised or contaminated.